Fall Time = Harvest Time

 To me, the fall season is more than just changing of the leaves, cooler weather (which I LOVE!), a change in the wardrobe, cleaning your entire home...include all the places that might be hidden, and it finally being okay to enjoy lots and lots of pumpkin flavored foods.

To me, fall time equals harvest time.

My favorite season of all?  Harvest season.  If you can call it a season.  But since most people don't, I guess that is why I like fall the best.

Growing up, before the seed companies started picking the seed corn out of the fields on their own, I remember there being so many family and friends at the farm to help with harvest. 

When we use to pick our own corn, it was 'all hands on deck'!  The pickers were smaller, there were only little wagons to haul the ear corn from the field to the unloading/loading site, and then a conveyer belt was used to load the corn from the wagons to the semis.

I am pretty sure there are some pictures of this at the farm.  So mom, when you have a chance, do you want to find them?  I'd like to scan/save them.

Anyway, since picking corn is only a job for my brother now (since he hauls for a local seed company), I enjoy whatever time I can helping dad harvest.

I enjoy seeing a field start like this.

Then introducing the combine to the field, since they'll be spending a few hours together.  :)

Enjoying the 'fruit' of the labor of spending hours sitting in the combine.

And finally.....the field being done.  That is one of the best feelings.

And then it is off to the next field.

Harvest for this year hasn't begun yet.  So all these pictures are from last year when I spent a few hours in the combine.  Hopefully it will work out that I get to help again this year!

Fall Fun

What's a better way to enjoy the fall weather than by spending it outdoors. Last night, my connection group had a hayride/bonfire. I had a kid wrangling job for the evening, watching this sweet girl. She had a special day yesterday....it was her 2nd birthday!! Happy Birthday Miss Brenna! So glad we got to celebrate with you.

To start off our evening, we had an activity of making scarecrows, that eventually got judged for a winner. And here's the winning scarecrow and Miss Mya, who came up with the idea.Here's the scarecrow that my group worked on. We got 2nd place. :)After we completed our scarecrows and roasting hotdogs over the bonfire, we went on a chilly hayride. It was quite the amuzing ride, as we had a handful of little guys and gals who decided to make their own wild animal noises. They would have made for great background noise at the haunted forest.

To conclude our night, of course we had smores! Since it was Brenna's birthday and we didn't have any birthday cake, she also got to enjoy a smore instead. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed every last bite of it. She sat in this chair and enjoyed this smore for at least 10 minutes.

It was a bit chilly all night, but that's what warm clothes and bonfires are for.

Today I was wrangling for 2 different kids from 2 different families (and their dogs). Maddie is 10 years old and Tristan is 7 months old. We took a trip to the orchard...which makes it my 4th for this season. Even though the temps were in the upper 40s, it was still really busy. Maddie attempted to go through the corn maze while Tristan and I sat outside the maze on a bench. But after getting 2 punches, she decided that was enough. We then headed back on the 'hayride' and picked out some pumpkins for them to put on their front step.
After picking up some pumpkins, apple cider, and fudge, we called it a day.

Bright and early tomorrow morning (well, techically it will still be dark), Maddie and I will be hanging out with Tristan again.

I hope you all are able to enjoy this fall weather as well! If you'd like to see some more fun fall pictures, go here.

Fall time means apple time

This past weekend when I went back to the farm, I got some great apples.





Yesterday, I finally had time to deal with them. I decided to turn a dozen of the apples into some great cinnamon applesauce!



Next on my list....apple crisp!


Apple Sauce recipe

12 or so of your favorite apples (peeled and cut up [the smaller the better])
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
cinnamon (however much or little you want...to flavor)

Put water, apples, sugar, and cinnamon in a good pot and cook on stovetop. The best is to cook the apples at a LOW to MEDIUM-LOW temperature, otherwise they can easily burn. Stir every few minutes. Once the water begins to thicken, begin to smash the apples as you stir. As you continue, if the sauce is getting too thick for you, add a little more water. Once all the apples are cooked and fairly smashed, I ran my applesauce through a blender, since I'm not a fan of chunky applesauce. I like my applesauce to have a good kick of cinnamon, so I usually add a little more in the end. Let the applesauce cool, serve and enjoy!

Change of weather = change of clothes

This year, it feels like fall has arrived earlier than usual. But I'm fine with that. Fall is my favorite season of the year. Harvest time, cooler weather, leaves changing to wonderful colors, pumpkins, etc. For me, all of this also includes needing to do a little change to my wardrobe. Time to get out the sweaters, longsleeved shirts, sweatshirts, pants, shoes, and put away the shorts, capris, tank tops, and flip flops. I just hope my closet is ready for this! I believe that I will have to do a little rearranging in my apartment to make room for the sweaters and such, but that shouldn't be a problem. This nice, crisp, cool air is all worth it!